


The Sleeping Song

by stellacadente



Series: The Forgotten Empire [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Legends: The Old Republic
Genre: Ellys Quinn, Gen, Post-KotET, Quinn family OCs, Samheen Quinn, Xhareen - Freeform, dad quinn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-19
Updated: 2018-09-19
Packaged: 2019-07-14 10:29:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16038629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacadente/pseuds/stellacadente
Summary: Inspired by a post by @thesquidhat on Tumblr -- not a prompt, and a little long to post in my prompts catchall work anyway.





	The Sleeping Song

On Zakuul (aka, New Zakuul) after KOTET

Quinn knew something was amiss the moment he opened the door to the suite of rooms he and Xhareen had claimed as their own in the sprawling palace complex. He found Xhareen several rooms in, in the nursery.

“Please, Sami, please …” he heard her say, “Mummy needs to take a nap.”

Samheen, their daughter, wasn’t exactly crying – he thought Xhareen was probably closer to doing so – but she was fussy. She’d been having digestive distress for a few days, which Dr. Lokin said was harmless and would pass.

All Xhareen had to say was “Malavai” as he entered the room and he knew what must be done.

“Give her to me. I’ll make sure she’s fine and put her down for her nap.”

Xhareen kissed Samheen on the cheek and said, “Here’s your Daddy” as she passed the whimpering bundle to Quinn.

“You, off to bed,” he ordered Xhareen. “I’m not even going to ask if you’ve slept at all since yesterday.”

She’d been trying to catch up with all the reports and documents Indo had sent her. Trying to organize a new form of government for the people of Zakuul – including thousands of immigrants each month – wasn’t easy. Certainly not after the birth of a child. Quinn knew she’d only gotten a few hours sleep overnight and he doubted she’d gotten any during the day.

“Thank you,” she said as she kissed his cheek before slipping out of the nursery room door.

“It’s my pleasure,” he said, but it was mostly directed at his daughter. He still marveled at her every day. The impossibly thick but soft black hair on her head, coming in curly. Her brown skin and her mother’s nose setting off eyes as blue as his own. Which made sense, genetically speaking, but still. She was absolutely beautiful.

He grabbed the protective cloth for his shoulder – he still couldn’t get used to calling it a “burp cloth,” which sounded too coarse for this perfect creature in his arms – and laid her on his chest.

One of the recruits at the Academy had been humming a tune while waiting to see Quinn for discipline earlier that afternoon and Quinn realized he couldn’t get the song out of his head. He began to hum it to Samheen, who quieted down almost immediately.

Strange thing with the children of Zakuul – they seemed to gravitate to the cultures of the immigrants to their planet without a second thought. And, he’d noticed, the older the song or holodrama, the more they loved it.

Xhareen, in her position as First Minister – which, she insisted, was not because she was above the others, but only because she’d been appointed first – worked tirelessly to ensure the old traditions of Zakuul were not swept aside. Even though she had plans to build a lavish opera house, she stood firm that it would showcase musical traditions from Zakuul as well as the rest of the galaxy.

But even she had to accept that cultures were going to meld and adapt and be adapted. What was old was always going to be new again.

As he thought about how much Xhareen had changed, or at least how her role had changed – she was always going to be strong-willed and stubborn and loyal to a fault – he realized he remembered some of the words to the song he was singing.

“ _You’ll be the best and brightest, you’ll outshine every sun_ …” he sang, barely above a whisper. He could remember most of the tune, at least the verses, but the lyrics were just out of his grasp. He would feel silly calling the cadet back to his office tomorrow to find out the name of the song but he also knew he’d not be able to put the issue to rest without knowing.

Samheen belched once; Quinn checked the cloth, which was dry, thank the stars. But he knew she wasn’t quite done, so he continued to walk around, bouncing gently and trying to remember what came next.

It wasn’t something he’d heard Xhareen sing. It wasn’t something he’d heard from her sister Naveen, who’d relocated here along with Xhareen’s remaining family. He hadn’t heard it over the Holonet.

Samheen belched again, so loudly that Quinn was convinced he’d have to change his shirt. But he checked, and no, everything was still dry. How such a noise could erupt from such a tiny body he still couldn’t comprehend, even after stealing hours alone at night to research infant physiology. But he wasn't going to accept her mother's assertion "You have to face it, Malavai, our daughter has a bantha's stomach."

_Not my perfect girl._

As he jostled her once more, he realized she was now asleep. No wonder she’d been fussy! But he wasn’t quite ready to put her in her crib, so he sat down on the sofa in the room and tried to remember more lyrics to the song.

 

~~~~~

“Papa’s here! Papa’s here!” young Malavai began to shout.

“Quiet down, dork,” his sister Kayda chided.

“No. Leave me alone or I’ll tell Papa you got demerits again last week.”

“You’re such a tattletale.”

“You’re so naughty.”

Their regularly scheduled spat was interrupted before the shoving could begin as Major Rymar Quinn entered the room. He always dominated every space he was in – except when their mother got there first.

Malavai was 6 years old and already knew he wanted to be just like his father. Shiny uniform, always in control. A hero of the Empire. Everyone respected him.

He wasn’t always around, though. And his young son missed him terribly when he was gone.

“Papa!” he said as he jumped into his father’s waiting arms. He wrapped himself around his father’s ample chest and didn’t even care that his father had pulled one arm away to pull Kayda to his side for a hug, too.

Their mother came into the room a moment later. “Kayda, I need your help in the kitchen and then we need to go to the market,” she said.

Kayda started to protest, but Ellys Quinn took her by the hand and led her from the room. “You can spend time with Papa later; he needs to be with your brother right now,” he heard his mother say as they walked away.

He didn’t care. He did want to spend time with his father.

“So Mal, what do you have to tell your old man today?” Rymar asked.

“It’s a song I learned! Mother let us watch an old drama show and it was kind of boring but it had a good song!”

Rymar laughed. “OK, you teach it to me then.”

After several attempts, Rymar repeated the lyrics and the tune mostly right, though his voice was far more suited to raucous drinking songs that soldiers sang to make their lives more tolerable.

“You’re a very good teacher, son. Have you ever thought about growing up and being a professor?”

Malavai shook his head. “No, sir. I want to be a soldier like you.”

Rymar caught his breath before he could betray his disbelief. It would be many years before he accepted that his brilliant, introverted son would make a good military officer.

“Well at least you didn’t say you want to be a singer like me!” He hoped he caught himself in time. Despite his doubts, he didn’t want to discourage his son at so young an age from anything.

“I like how you sing, Papa. Sing it again,” Malavai said as they sat down on a couch, side by side.

_“You are my brightest star, you streak across the sky, I’ll never leave your orbit, I’ll never say goodbye …”_

~~~~~

 

Xhareen crept into the nursery a few hours later, not fully refreshed but ready for dinner. Malavai had not yet come down to the dining area and the rest of the family were waiting.

She found him laid out on the sofa, Samheen still asleep on his chest. She lifted the child and carried her to her crib, noticing the smile on her husband’s face.

_It’s still early enough and the food can keep. I’ll wake him for supper if he’s not up in an hour_ , she thought as she slipped out and closed the door.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> In my post-KOTET verse, Quinn becomes Commandant of the re-constituted Zakuul Military Academy after the Eternal Fleet and the Skytroopers are scuttled and Zakuulans decide it's past time they start doing things for themselves. Koth is a flight instructor until he joins Xhareen in politics later because I adore the idea of a gray-haired, grizzled Senator Koth Vortena.


End file.
